<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">TheSupreme Court today referred the plea challenging the practice of femalegenital mutilation (FGM) of minor girls, among Dawoodi Bohra Muslims to afive-judge constitution bench.</span>''<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Abench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D YChandrachud was hearing a PIL filed by a Delhi-based lawyer challenging thepractice.</span></p>''<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Theplea stated that female genital mutilation is performed illegally upon minorgirls, and is against the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, andthe  Universal Declaration of HumanRights, of which is India is a signatory. It added that the practice alsocaused permanent disfiguration to the child's body.</span></p>''<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Agroup of Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community members had earlier told the apex courtthat female circumcision is practised by a few sects of Islam, including theDawoodi Bohra community, and that the validity of this be examined, if at all,by a larger constitution bench.</span></p>